Distributing head for the manifolds of filters or like devices



Oct. 24, 1944. J. F. MaCsoRLEY 2,360,958

DISTRIBUTING HEAD FOR THE MANIFOLDS FILTERS OR LIKE DEVICES Filed Aug. 12, 1942 ATTORNEYS.

Patented Oct. 24, 19

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DISTRIBUTING HEAD FOR THE MANIFOLDS F FILTERS OR LIKE DEVICES John Francis MacSorley. Wenonah, N. J., assignor to Hungerford-& Terry, Inc., Clayton, N. .L, a corporation of Delaware Application August 12, 1942 Serial No. 454,486

4 Claims.

improved head or distributing device for the manifolds used in equipment of the character specified. Water softeners are typical vof the equipments to which the invention is particularly applicable, and I will illustrate the inventio in connection therewith.

The primary objects of the invention are. to provide a head which can be very quickly and easily applied to the pipes of the manifold without danger of interfering with the flow of the fluid in the manifold passages; the. provision of a readily replaceable head; the provision of a head which is provided with means for preventing the gravel or other granular material from entering the distributing passages and partially closing or choking them; the provision of a head which will ensure the widest possible and most uniform distribution of the fluid through the granular material with the elimination of the detrimental channe1ing" which is often encountered with present equipment; the provision of a head in which the flow passages for the fluid are arranged to ensure true orifice action; and the provision of a head which can be simply formed by a casting operation, and subsequently drilled to provide the proper size passagev calculated to give the desired true orifice action for the particular installation at hand.

The objects and advantages of the invention will appear more fully when considered in connection with the accompanying drawing. where- Figure 1 is a vertical section through a water softener equipped with a manifold having the heads of the present invention;

Figure 2 .is a vertical section on a very much enlarged scale through one of my improved heads showing it in place on a manifold pipe, the section being taken approximately as indicated by the line 2- 2 of Figure 3;

Figure 3 is a plan view of my improved head; and

Figure 1 is a section on the line 4- of Figure 2.

By referring to the drawing,.it will be seen that I have illustrated a water softener comprising a treating tank 5 having convex top and bottom ends 6 and I. In its bottom portion the tank is filled with gravel or sand 8 or some similar distributing medium familiar to the art, upon whichis carried a bed of water softening or filtering material 9 of any desired type.

The raw water to be softened comes in at the top through the pipe and is distributed by any suitable structure indicated a a whole by the reference character I l. The details of this struc- .the manifold l3 near the bottom of th tank.

-The manifold Hi can be made in any desired manner, but generally consists of a central large diameter pipe M in direct communication with the pipe 12 and a plurality of smaller laterally extending pipes l5 which extend therefrom on both sides so as to provide a spider-like pattern familiar to those skilled in this art and the details o which it is unnecess ry t mor fully illustrate or describe because they are very well known.

The improved heads it of my invention are best i lustrated in Figures 2 to 4 inclusive, from inspection of which it will be seen that they have a shank portion ll which is externally threaded s0 as to be readily screwed into correspondingly threaded openings in the top of the lateral pipes I! of the manifold I8. The shanks are in the nature of hubs and are relatively short, so that they do not extend into the Pipes sufficiently far to in any way interfere with the flow of the fluid. The interior of the shank is provided with a. pas sage l8. which provides true orifice action and which communicates at the bottom with the pipe l5 and at the top with the passages in the enlarged upper end It, which is now to be described.

A protecting top or can portion 20 is supported upon a plurality of diamond-shaped spacers 2l--in this instance four-the sides of which form the walls of a plurality of flaring channels or openings 22, the narrower ends of which openings are in direct communication with the upper end of the internal passage l8 in the shank-l1 and the wider outer ends of which flaring openings are in open communication with the granular material in the tank 5.

The spacers 2| are relatively shallow so that the flaring passages 22 are narrow in vertical dimension. The flare, therefore, of they passages 22 extends horizontally outwardly from the central passage 18 and forms a fan-like distributing area which provides for maximum coverage of the granular treating material.

While fewer or more of the flaring passages 22 may be employed than the four which are illustrated, I prefer the arrangement shown because it makes possible a very uniform distribution of the fluid.

At its upper end the passage i8 is flared out into the form of a surrounding ring-like depression 23 which forms an accumulating or interconnecting space for the fluid in its transit from the passage 18 to the flaring openings 22.

The top or cap portion 20 is arranged to project somewhat beyond the wide outer openings of the passages 22 so as to provide a hood-like overhang 24 which serves to obviate the possibility of the supporting gravel 8 or other granular material lodging in front of the openings 22 and choking or partially closing them against a full flow of the fluid.

The preferred method of making my improved head is to cast it with a solid shank H which shank is subsequently drilled to provide the passage II. In this way I can readily adjust the size of the passage l8 to that which may be necessary for the particular installation in hand to yield the true orifice action referred to above. In other words, I can make the passages l8 of such a size that their total flow area in all of the heads needed for any given installation is less than the total flow area of the inlet passage to the manifold. When the fluid is passing upwardly through the heads, this then provides the true orifice action which is needed for successful distribution.

It might be-pointed out that, in the equipment illustrated, the back washing flow takes I claim:

1. A head for the manifold of filters, softeners or the like, said head comprising a shank portion having an internal passage, an enlarged upper end, and a channel in said enlarged end adapted to establish communication between said internal passage and the exterior of the head, said channel being defined by laterally projected walls extending from-the intemal passage to the periphery of the head, which walls diverge outwardly to provide an outwardly flaring passage which extends from said internal passage to the periphery of the head, and a top portion supported on said walls.

2. The structure of claim 1 including a plurality of outwardly flaring channels formed as described and arranged to radiate from said internal pas- S886.

3. The structure of claim 1 in which a plurality of flaring channels are formed as described and arranged to radiate from said internal passage, and in which an enlarged interconnecting space is provided in surrounding relation to said shank passage and in direct communication with the smaller inner openings of said flaring channels.

4. In a structure of the character described, a manifold and a, plurality of distributing heads mounted on said manifold, each of said heads comprising a shank portion having an internal passage in communication with the manifold, an enlarged upper end, and a plurality of channels in said enlarged end adapted to establish communication between the internal passage and the exterior of the head, each of said channels being defined by laterally projected walls extending from the internal passage to the periphery of the head, which walls diverge outwardly to provide an outwardly flaring passage which extends from the external passage to the periphery of the head, the total flow area through the internal passages of all of said heads being less than that or said manifold.

' J. FRANCIS MACSORLEY. 

